Beyond the Department of Mysteries
by HKBlack
Summary: Sirius’ last moments on this world were far from simply healing an oversized bird. Rather, they were filled with laughter, memories, swing dancing and one best friend, otherwise known as Moony.Character Death, Swing Dancing, and Subtext.
1. Chapter 1

**So, last semester (some time in September I believe) we had a project in my English class** to read any book we like, and do any type of project we like on it. This project had to clearly show what happens in the book (or had to have a summary attached) and had to give our personal views on it. Naturally I chose Harry Potter because being in all Advanced Classes you don't have time to read, and I've got the books basically memorized. Especially the 5th book. Horrid ending—but it will always be my favorite hands down. So, my challenge was to rewrite the last handful of chapters Remus-centric, to show Sirius' last few moments on Earth and Remus' reaction. There is no Slash, but there's a lot of sub-texting.

**Summary: **Sirius' last moments on this world were far from simply healing an oversized bird. Rather, they were filled with laughter, memories, swing dancing and one best friend, otherwise known as Moony.

**Warnings: **Character Death, Sadness/Angst Abound, Swing Dancing, and Sub-text.

**Rating: T** for the hell of it

* * *

**Beyond the Department of Mysteries

* * *

**

Remus opened the door to the old house carefully. He stepped in clutching his old briefcase and cloak as silence settled in after the door clicked shut. At the end of the hallway a head peered out from the kitchen. Remus smiled and started towards the kitchen softly as Sirius grinned and beckoned him to hurry up.

"You're back!" Sirius exclaimed quietly after Remus had passed the old torn curtains hiding the sleeping figure of Mrs. Black. Remus nodded.

"Oh please Sirius, I haven't been on a real mission for the Order in Ages! You know that," the werewolf replied. Sirius stepped back into the kitchen and Remus followed him and closed the large door.

"At least you've been out of the house," the other man stated running a hand through his hair. "D'you want some tea?"

"Tea would be brilliant Pads. And I dare-say—if you want to take polyjuice and go as me for three days just to spend one afternoon with Mundungus Fletcher—please go right ahead." Sirius chuckled lightly flicking his wand carelessly. They sat down at the table and the kettle started to warm up.

"That bad?"

"Terrible," Remus muttered holding his head up with his chin and distractedly watching the kettle.

"Mundungus takes some time," Sirius stated.

"Hmm," Remus hummed in agreement as the kettle whistled shrilly and lifted up to pour its contents into the two teacups that had been set out earlier. Realization dawned, and Remus looked up suddenly at Sirius.

"You haven't been waiting long, have you Pads?" Sirius shrugged and stood up to retrieve the cups—not trusting his new wand to levitate them.

"No, not really," the man replied—obviously lying. Remus sighed and smiled softly up at his best friend, as a teacup was set in front of him.

"Next time I go out, it will be for cleaning supplies. I don't think there's too much of a problem for me to take my dog with a few added patches of white here and there with me. What do you think?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye. Sirius chuckled and sat down.

"What they don't know, won't hurt them," Sirius stated. Remus nodded and took a small sip of his tea before he sighed and placed the cup down.

"Sirius…you'll be a free man by Harry's 16th birthday—and we'll go and steal him from the Dursleys and give him a proper birthday," Remus stated firmly. Sirius looked down at his cup of tea and smiled.

"We could take him to one of those Muggle carnivals, like the one Lily brought us to." Remus nodded.

"I think he'd like that," he replied. Sirius nodded.

"Yeah…" Sirius picked up his cup and gulped down the quickly cooling tea.

"I can't believe you remember that." Sirius smiled fondly while swirling the dregs in the cup around. Remus held out his hand and Sirius placed the cup in his grasp.

"When I escaped—I wound up in these old fair grounds. I saw the caramel apple stand and remembered James covered in the stuff." Remus laughed watching the dregs in the cup settle.

"Yes, I believe he repaid you by putting ice cream in your hair," the werewolf remarked.

"Hm…yeah. He did. So what do you see?" Remus put the cup down and smiled.

"Happiness." Sirius snorted and stood up, picking up both their cups and placing them in the sink.

"You saw the Grim—you always saw the Grim for me back in school." Remus shrugged.

"I hated that subject. I couldn't see anything. I always saw stags, rats, and dogs—and for everybody else I saw mush," he replied nonchalantly.

"You were the favorite, always making up some happiness from the mush, until you left for runes at least," Sirius commented sitting back down. The ex-professor smiled and started to speak when the cups whistled shrilly before Sirius flicked his wand and they started to clean themselves. Remus raised an eyebrow and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Molly…" he muttered. Remus laughed loudly.

"What's so funny?" Sirius growled, glaring at him. Remus shook his head.

"I'm sorry Padfoot, it's just—you make it sound like you're the one married to her—not Arthur. Sirius Orion Black—Hogwarts' most eligible bachelor, cleaning cups for an older woman!" Sirius rolled his eyes and kicked Remus under the table.

"Shut up you, it's not funny! It's scary! It means that the sky will be falling soon and we'll all die painful and horribly slow deaths!"

"Under chunks of blue sky and clouds?" Sirius grinned.

"Exactly!" Remus laughed as Sirius winked at him.

"How ridiculous, you're insane Pads." Sirius nodded before snapping his fingers.

"Blue sky—that reminds me. Buckbeak hurt his paw."

"Do I even want to know how?" Remus asked and Sirius sighed.

"The house hates him," he muttered—his facial features darkening. Remus looked at his friend remorsefully—a dark veil now covered the flamboyant personality that used to shine through unhindered.

"The house hates everyone Sirius. Don't dwell on it," he pleaded quietly. Sirius shrugged and stood up.

"So will you take a look for me? I don't even think we covered Hippogriffs way back when. Even if we did—Merlin knows that it's become way more advanced in the past decade and a half." Remus nodded and stood.

"Yeah, all right. Let's go see if Beaky will let me near him today," he said grabbing his cloak and brief case. They headed to the door when a piercing whistle filled the air. Sirius rolled his eyes and tried to get Remus to continue following him.

"Wait! Sirius! What is that?" Remus called over the noise. Sirius motioned towards the cups sitting patiently by the sink.

"Molly! C'mon! It'll stop the second we touch the door!" he replied loudly.

As if to prove his point, he grabbed the door handle and the kitchen was plunged into a strange silence. Remus blinked and raised his hand to one of his ringing ears. Sirius grinned—his face lighting up.

"See? It's brilliant! And it lets us know if some one enters through the kitchen because you can hear it all through out the house except for the entrance hall!" Remus sighed and shook his head.

"I leave for three days and three years of changes are made in the house."

"Don't waste your energy Moony, let's just go!" Sirius exclaimed letting go of the door. The cups trilled again impatiently and Remus hesitated before shifting around his belongings so that he could reach his wand. With a quick swish and flick the cups were happily in their places.

"Now we may go," Remus announced, brushing past Sirius and leading the way down the hallway and up the stairs.

"You're insane Moony," Sirius whispered after they had gone past the portrait of his mother. Remus chuckled as they started up the stairs.

"Yes, well, you learned to deal with it before," he replied.

"How is beyond me," Sirius returned. Remus stopped abruptly causing Sirius to bump into him and stumble back a few steps.

"I'm just that irresistible," Remus stated smugly. Sirius laughed and bounded right back behind him and started to push him up the stairs.

"Oh get over yourself, you giant lump." Remus laughed.

"Pot, kettle, Pads. Pot, kettle," he commented as he opened the door to Buckbeak's room. The Hippogriff looked up from its curled up position in the corner, turning his large golden eyes towards the two men at the door. Sirius walked on in as Remus graciously bowed.

"How's your foot Beaks?" Sirius asked, reaching into a magically locked drawer in the dresser and tossing out a dead ferret to the oversized bird. The Hippogriff trilled after nodding his head to the Werewolf and then grabbed the ferret in its beak. Remus straightened and walked in. Sirius opened another door and pulled out a medical kit, which he handed to Remus.

"Well fear no more my darling avian...horse thingy—sorry—the Medi-Wizard has arrived." Remus and Buckbeak glanced at each other and then rolled their eyes at the animagus. Remus kneeled next to Buckbeak and sighed. Sirius kneeled next to him and watched intently.

"So which claw are talking about here?" Remus asked rummaging around through the kit.

"Left," Sirius said as Buckbeak stuck out his right foot.

"Left Pads?" Remus asked, chuckling as he lifted out some disinfectant. Sirius muttered as Remus finally looked up at Buckbeak's injury. The werewolf gasped and jumped back slightly.

"Sweet Merlin," he breathed, gently reaching forward to lightly brush above the main injury. Buckbeak made a noise of discomfort as Remus stared in horror at the purple and green claw with three great slashes on it.

"When did this happen?"

"This morning." Remus turned and gawked at Sirius.

"Why didn't you wrap it?" he scolded. Sirius glanced at Buckbeak.

"His highness wouldn't let me." Remus shivered in remembrance of some of his own wounds that had never been properly wrapped and looked back at Buckbeak.

"You'll make a lovely pillow and fine quills if you don't let me take care of you properly. Be a man and suck it up," he instructed before handing Sirius the disinfectant.

"Open that up and get a handful of swabs from the kit."

Sirius nodded as Remus stood up and took off his outer robes. He rolled the sleeves up on his under robe and held them in place with a spell before getting back on the floor. Sirius handed him a swab and he scooped up the disinfectant and grabbed the Hippogriff's ankle gently but firmly.

"On the count of three…one, two, three!"

Buckbeak let out a screech of fury as the Wizard Healing medicine started to clean his wounds. Sirius prepared another swab for Remus to continue the process. A few moments later all three sat on the floor panting with their ears ringing. Buckbeak's paw was an angry red from the pasty potion that Remus had used. After they had calmed down, Remus picked up the roll of bandages and carefully started to wrap Buckbeak's paw.

"Right, starting tomorrow we're getting rid of everything in this house so we don't have to worry about this kind of problem again," he muttered.

Sirius nodded in agreement, closing up the disinfectant and putting it away before gathering up the used swabs and burning them with a flick of his wand. He closed up the kit and went to put it away. When he returned to Remus' side he sighed before realizing the werewolf was softly humming to himself. He stared intently at his friend as he continued to gently wrap Buckbeak's injury. Remus stopped and looked up.

"What?" he asked self-consciously.

"You were humming," Sirius stated. Remus raised an eyebrow.

"So?" Sirius shook his head.

"Nothing, it's nothing…you all done?" Remus glanced back at the task he was trying to accomplish. He tapped the end of the bandage with his wand and nodded.

"Yep. All done." Buckbeak let out a loud sigh causing both men to chuckle lightly. After a few moments of silence in which the Hippogriff thoroughly examined the strange white cloth on his foot, Sirius spoke up.

"What song was that?" Remus looked up at him. The other man had a face of pure desperation.

"Hmm?" he hummed in response—Sirius' words not exactly clicking.

"The song, the one you were humming a few seconds ago. I don't recognize it," Sirius explained. Remus furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why Sirius, it was a rather popular song a few year—oh. Oh Sirius! I'm terribly sorry," Remus muttered—aghast with himself. Sirius shook his head.

"It's all right, you…you forgot is all."

"But Sirius! You used to be so much into the music and all, and that was just horrible of me. You missed such a great musical time period, and I am practically rubbing it in your face. I am so sorry Sirius!" Sirius pushed himself up off the floor.

"Forget it Remus. It's no big deal. It is just music." Remus looked up at him with a pained expression.

"But Sirius…you loved music."

"I used to love a lot of things Rem," Sirius replied, picking up the other man's robes and holding them out to him. Remus sighed and stood up, taking the robes from Sirius and slipping them back on.

"Have you been listening to the WWN?" he asked. Sirius shook his head.

"First off, I was more into Muggle Music, and secondly—the style has changed to much. It is weird, and rather different." Remus looked at Sirius for a few moments. The other man was looking down at the ground—no doubt thinking about all the time he had missed out. Suddenly an idea came to his mind and he laughed, grabbing Sirius' arm and pulling him out of the room.

"Come on! I have an idea!" Sirius sputtered, tripping over his own feet to keep up with the fast moving werewolf.

"Remus! What are you doing?" he cried. Remus stopped and turned to smirked at Sirius—successfully turning the other man's bones to ice. It was never a good sign when Remus looked that way—trouble was bound to come up.

"I'm going to catch you up," he said before dragging Sirius to his room.

Sirius unceremoniously toppled onto Remus' bed as the other man flicked his wand and opened up his trunk. There was a small crack and pop before music started to fill the room softly. Remus groaned and turned away from his trunk to jab his wand at the old record player sitting innocently on the dresser and the music turned up. Sirius sat up and gaped at Remus as the first few beats played out—the loud horns and drums belting them out in a fast paced tempo.

"Merlin! Moony! Is this the record I got you for your 19th?" Remus laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, my first Swing Record that I didn't swipe from my parents. I was so excited I actually kissed you on the cheek and wouldn't let go of you until James pried me off. And then I kept turning around and hugging you every five minutes." Sirius laughed and fell back as Remus turned back to his trunk searching for some of his old A-Tracks from the 70s and CDs from the 80s.

"You taught me how to dance to this music…" Sirius stated suddenly. Remus turned around to look at him. He was lying back on the bed smiling at the ceiling. The werewolf nodded.

"Yeah, you and James…I remember that." Sirius closed his eyes.

"I can…kind of remember it." Remus sighed and stood up and went to sit next to Sirius.

"One of those moments where I wish I had a pensive so I could show it to you again." Sirius shook his head.

"No—I don't want a pensive—I want my own memories back." Remus smiled.

"Well…do you remember the prank you guys pulled on Snape that day?"

"I think we turned his hair pink—but we did that a lot." Remus chuckled.

"You turned it pink using one of his own potions, and then you proceeded to write his undying love for one of the house elves in bright yellow in the entrance hall." Sirius laughed.

"I remember that! We even got the House Elf to sit there waiting for him to give him a token of her gratitude!" Remus laughed.

"And so you both ran as fast as you could under James' invisibility cloak back up to the dorms so that I could vouch for you." Sirius sat up nodding.

"And you were in the dorm listening to your record—dancing!" Remus blushed.

"I was doing homework!"

"Homework does not include stealing my broom and twirling it around the dorm Moony." The two men stared at each other—Remus scowling, Sirius smirking. Finally Remus looked away and muttered.

"I got distracted!" Sirius let out a bark of laughter. Remus looked back up.

"You know for someone who couldn't remember what happened very clearly—you sure do seem to have it all," he stood up to go turn off the music only to have Sirius pull him back down.

"I'm not done with you yet…now how exactly did we wind up dancing in the dorm together?" Remus laughed.

"Now that part was all your fault. Your parents had tried to force you to learn to dance, proper ballroom dances and the likes—sort of like James' parents had." Sirius nodded.

"Pureblooded thing—but he got to learn the cool dances! He learned to Tango and Waltz! I hated dancing."

"So you asked me to teach you how to swing dance—which is filled with complicated twists and turns." Sirius grinned.

"Well, just because I hated dancing when my parents made me do it—doesn't mean I can't dance at all." Remus laughed.

"That's exactly what you said back then. And then Prongs jumped in and decided he wanted to learn too."

"So he went first and realized he couldn't do it at all," Sirius stated smugly. Remus nodded.

"And then you and I started and within a few minutes James had to push all the beds against the walls so we could have more room as we switched back and forth between leading." Sirius grinned and nodded before he closed his eyes.

"That was fun." Remus nodded.

"Yeah…it was." The music went silent for a moment before a new song picked up. Sirius looked at Remus, a mischievous smile crossing his facial features. Remus jumped off the bed.

"Oh no! Whatever you're thinking get it out of your head right now Sirius Orion Black!" Sirius laughed and stood up.

"Oh c'mon Moony! Have a little trust in me! I was just going to ask you to re-teach me!" Remus stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"Re-teach you?"

"Yeah! I don't really remember how to swing dance—and I want to remember!" Sirius pleaded, grinning. Remus sighed.

"It has been quite a long time for me as well Sirius." Sirius grinned.

"Well we can relearn together!" Remus paused and then gave in nodding.

"Brilliant!" Sirius exclaimed quickly moving all the furniture out of their way and then going up to Remus.

"Ok, you lead first." Remus grimaced.

"This is…awkward…" he muttered before grabbing Sirius' hands. He listened to the music and started to hear the tempo in his mind before nodding.

"Ok…ready?" Sirius nodded energetically. Remus couldn't help but smile; the last time he had seemed so happy was when Harry was over for Christmas.

"All right on four…1…2…3…4!" Within seconds they were laughing, spinning and dancing around the old room to the upbeat tempo, seemingly without a care.

After a few minutes of getting used to dancing with one another, their eyes slid shut as they danced and they were no longer in number 12 Grimmauld Place, rather they were in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory. They weren't in their mid-30s any more; they were two 15-year-old boys.

But more importantly, they weren't alone.

James sat on one of the four poster beds flush against the wall laughing and clapping in time with the music watching them spin and twirl and dance.

Just outside the door there was entire common room of people doing homework and playing games and enjoying their youth.

And out side of that there was an entire school filled with all sorts of people from the fuming Slytherin with pink hair to the smiling, bespectacled Headmaster trying hard not to laugh as the said Slytherin paced in front of him, ranting and raving.

There was no war that could affect them—nothing could get past the walls of Hogwarts. So they danced; as James made comments about dance competitions and teased them about how well they danced together.

Finally they opened their eyes. They could still feel James in the room with them; Lily sitting beside him. Both laughing as the animagus and the werewolf stole the spotlight away from them during their wedding reception at the request of James. The people around them laughing as they did their best not to trip on their dress robe; and those who knew them well laughing twice as hard knowing that there was most likely a very heated discussion over who would be leading the dance before hand.

The next song came on and Remus and Sirius continued to dance forgetting everything that had been on their troubled minds before. They were so caught up in it that they never heard Mad-Eye's buzzer going off announcing someone at the floo.

They only heard the trumpets, drums and the beat, as Sirius twirled away from Remus, and then back to him. On the way back out though Sirius tripped on a loose board and snagged Remus' robes for some sort of support before falling back, pulling the other man down with him. They landed in a breathless heap on the bed. Remus laughed into Sirius' shoulder.

"Smooth move Tinkerbell." Sirius laughed and hit the other man on the shoulder playfully.

"Oh shut up," he said. They laughed as Remus rolled off of Sirius and sighed.

"Well…I guess dancing is like playing Quidditch—well for those who actually play," Remus commented. Sirius smirked at him.

"Once you learn you never forget?" Remus nodded.

"That, and, as you get older and don't do it as often—it tends to get harder." Sirius laughed.

"C'mon Moons! We're not old! We're just—eh…out of shape?" Remus laughed.

"Oh real nice Pads, real nice."

"What!" Remus chuckled.

"Way to make a werewolf feel good about himself, just tell him he's out of shape." Sirius laughed and sat up.

"So what other music samples do you have?" he asked, eyeing Remus' trunk.

"Hmm. I've got my albums—I stole your A-Tracks, I think all my cassette tapes disappeared as a result of me trying to create a successful potion." Sirius snorted.

"Key word: trying." Remus nodded.

"Exactly."

"So let me get this straight—in the past 15 years you have been listening to the same music you listened to after we graduated?"

"Oh please Sirius, I'm not that hopeless! In fact…" Remus pushed himself off the bed and went to his trunk. He rustled around in it for a few moments. Sirius raised his eyebrow sitting back on the bed.

"Whatcha looking for Moony?" Remus shook his head.

"What was that name of that crazy muggle guy you were madly obsessed with in the 70s?" Sirius shook his head and sighed at Remus, lifting his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose.

"Remus," he said smiling, "they were all crazy muggle guys in the 70s." Remus rolled his eyes.

"No that one really big one that you absolutely adored. Daylin Something?"

"Daylin? What kind of name is that?" Sirius asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"No, that's not right…Dave…Davie! Davie Boony?" Remus tried. Sirius' jaw dropped.

"David Bowie you imbecile?" he cried. Remus shot up holding a CD case grinning.

"That's the one!" Sirius' gaped at him.

"You forgot David Bowie!" Remus laughed.

"I'm not that cruel, I was testing you. He released a CD in the late 80s. I think—in fact I'm sure you'll love it." Sirius laughed and sat up, pulling his legs on the bed—shoes and all, much to the displeasure of Remus—and sat Indian style.

"Put it on then! Let's hear it!" Remus nodded and walked over to where the Record Player was. He pressed a button on the side and a CD compartment appeared. He grinned over his shoulder at Sirius.

"I love being a Wizard." Sirius laughed.

"I can imagine, new technology and that poor Record Player gets another thing installed in it—can you play all your music on that thing now?" Remus nodded while fiddling with the controls. Soon the music blasted out of the player and Sirius fell back as the vocals came on.

"It's my God! It's my Idol! He has returned to my life! Oh joy to the world! Peace on Earth! Wow—this is really good!" Remus laughed.

"How old are you Sirius?"

"Twenty something. Now shut up, I'm trying to hear." Remus chuckled again moving to sit back down on the bed.

A few songs later Sirius had convinced Remus to swing dance to David Bowie. Some how they managed to pull it off quite well despite the odd combination of dance moves and rhythm. They had just really started dancing when there was a loud knocking on the door. Mad-Eye Moody burst in along with Tonks and Kingsley behind him. Remus let go of Sirius and pulled out his wand, immediately silencing the music. Mad Eye looked at them both with his roving magical eye.

"Been listening to that garbage for awhile now?" he growled. Sirius started to protest that it was not garbage thank you very much—it was music! But Remus stopped him.

"Actually, we were fixing Buckbeak's paw, we maybe came in here…15, 20 minutes ago I believe. I could be wrong of course." Mad-Eye huffed.

"Of course…" he turned and stalked out of the room. "C'mon Shacklebot, we've got things to do!" Kingsley nodded and waved at Sirius and Remus.

"Hey guys, catch up to you both later all right. Remus, I need to know how that meeting went sometime tonight."

"It was horrible!" Sirius cried as Remus tried to answer. Remus stepped on Sirius' toe causing the older man to squeak in indignation.

"Of course! Just come find me when you get a chance." The younger man nodded before disappearing, leaving Tonks to watch amused as Sirius hopped up and down to Remus' bed holding his foot.

"That hurt Moony!"

"You're over 30 Pads. You'll live, I promise," Remus replied moving to actually stop the CD player rather than just silence it. Sirius looked up at Tonks and grinned.

"Wotcher Tonks!" Tonks grinned.

"Wotcher Sirius!" she replied before actually moving inside the room to sit down on one of the old moth eaten chairs. Remus glanced over at her and smiled kindly.

"Hello Tonks."

"Hey Remus—abusing Sirius again?" Remus nodded.

"Naturally. I haven't been home in three days—I'm trying to catch up of course." Tonks laughed as Sirius glared at Remus as he moved to sit down on another chair.

"So, care to explain what's up with Mad-Eye's version of the Spanish Inquisition?" Sirius asked. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Sirius, it was one perfectly normal question."

"Yet he ran off with the answer rather fast with Shacklebot close behind, and showed up with two other fully trained Aurors." Remus opened his mouth to retort but then stopped and looked at Tonks.

"Rest the poor old dog's mind? I'm afraid he won't listen to me."

"Actually, Sirius is on the right track Remus. Harry tried to floo you guys about 15, maybe 20 minutes ago and got no answer. What he did get though, was a very nasty realization that Umbridge placed barriers all over her office, so he was caught. She brought in Severus to get some Veritaserum, and when he was about to leave Harry shouted out something about Voldemort having Sirius. Well, in code of course—but that's about it." Remus and Sirius both frowned.

"We didn't hear the ringing of the bell though…" Remus muttered.

"We were also swing dancing like two old loons," Sirius reasoned and Remus swallowed.

"Oh Merlin…is everything—what's happening there?" he asked worriedly, fear tying his stomach up in knots.

"No idea, that's all the information Severus could get to us. I'm sure he'll corner Harry as quickly as possible to warn him against doing anything rash, but in the meantime, Mad-Eye thought it best to have a team here just in case, so Severus can reach us if anything does happen and we'll be ready to go," she explained shrugging. Sirius glowered at the wall.

"Severus console Harry? Not likely. He'll most likely provoke the boy. That disgusting slimy greasy—"

"Sirius!"

"Sorry…" Remus sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Didn't you give him your two-way Padfoot?" Sirius muttered darkly.

"Knowing him, he probably thought it'd be better for me if he didn't use it."

"You can't exactly blame him Padfoot," Remus reasoned. Tonks coughed politely.

"Look, I'm sure he's fine. I mean, he's got Hermione and Ron right? And they've been through loads together apparently."

"Yet in the end it's always Harry…" Sirius muttered.

"Nothing we can do about that Sirius, look at what his near future holds for him. A very angry, very powerful Dark Lord. I'd like to see you get through that without having to rely on solely yourself and your wand after a period of time," Remus retorted. Sirius sighed. Tonks shook her head.

"You're both insane. Look, I'm bored. May I watch you two twirl each other around or shall we go do something—not quite as dangerous?" she asked. Remus and Sirius both looked away, their cheeks slightly tinged pink.

"Let's—Ah—go do something else, yeah?" Remus suggested. Sirius nodded vigorously as Tonks sat back laughing.

"Aw, a shame! I was hoping you could teach me to dance Remus!" she replied. The werewolf faintly blushed and muttered. Sirius snorted.

"Oh please Tonks! You'd trip up and would wind up sending poor Remus to an early grave!" he retorted. Tonks glared at him.

"I'm not that bad!" she exclaimed jumping up.

"C'mon Remus! Dance with me!" she pleaded stepping towards him. Remus stuttered.

"I-Um…I've never danced with anyone other than my mother and Sirius—it might be a bit strange," he admitted. Sirius let out a bark of laughter and Tonks stopped and made a slight face before grinning.

"You'll be fine! If it helps I can change my face!"

"I'm not sure that that's such a good—" Remus was interrupted by a squeaking Tonks as she tripped over the same floorboard Sirius had tripped over previously. The ex-convict roared in laughter as Remus moved forward to help the girl up.

"Are you all right?" he asked concerned. Tonks' face was a bright cherry red color. She nodded and mumbled.

"I'm good…thanks." Remus helped her straighten up as Sirius' laughter died down.

"I award thee, Nymphadora Tonks, daughter of Muggle Ted Tonks, the Order of Worse Timing EVER and Winner of the Most Embarrassing Moment Award!" he announced grinning at her. She shot him a look.

"Don't even get me started Black. I'll string you up and feed you to the giant squid back at Hogwarts," she threatened. Sirius shrugged.

"I would go faster if you just tossed me to our resident werewolf. And that way he wouldn't go all manic depressive on you guys because he'll always have a bit of me in his blood stream, helping him stay healthy and active that much longer," Sirius replied adding on a romantic little sigh while batting his eyelashes. Remus grimaced.

"That's extremely disgusting Padfoot."

"Really? I thought it was more like sickeningly sweet." Tonks waved her hands frantically.

"Ok! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I really don't want to hear it! You're both insane!" she cried. Sirius laughed again and Remus rolled his eyes.

"I don't know why you're friends with him Remus! Honestly! I'm going downstairs to talk to normal people that don't give me images of Sirius bits floating through a blood stream! Come on Remus! Let's leave the dog up here to contemplate his existence in your digestive system alone!" she said walking to the door. Remus laughed and shook his head.

"He's the first best friend I had…and the only one brave enough to actually steal my books and tell me that I would not get them back until I was social for at least two hours, he's coming with us," he replied, holding out his hand to Sirius. Sirius swooned and grabbed Remus' hand.

"Oh Remus, you're such a gentleman!" he cooed in a high-pitched voice. Remus pulled him roughly to his feet and Sirius laughed.

"And you're a mongrel, come on, I'm hungry. I want real food in my system—not imaginary Siriuses." Sirius laughed as Tonks rolled her eyes and stepped out into the hallway, the other two men following closely behind, talking quietly but animatedly.

"Is 'Siriuses' even a word?" Sirius asked. Remus shrugged.

"It is now."

"Making a new Dictionary Moony? Going to put that one in there?"

"Might as well," Remus replied as Sirius laughed. Tonks shook her head.

"Men," she muttered as they walked down the rest of the stairs and stopped talking in the Main Hallway. They passed Mrs. Black's portrait where Sirius made an ugly face and Remus smacked him lightly upside the head as Tonks picked her way carefully around the Troll Foot Umbrella Holders and other such oddities. As they entered the kitchen where Moody and Kingsley were, Tonks spoke up.

"I don't see the obsession with Troll feet Sirius, what is up with that?" she asked sitting down at the table and taking the cup of tea Kingsley silently offered her.

"Something to do with the smell of decaying flesh—Merlin only knows," Sirius replied sitting on the other side of the table across from her and next to Kingsley. Remus sighed and sat down next to Tonks and glanced at the end of the table where Moody was going over some papers.

"Any news yet?" Moody grunted and Kingsley shook his head.

"Nothing, but I'm sure Harry's got something up his sleeve—if not him then one of the others. He had Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville Longbottom and some other girl. I think he said Luna Lovegood," the Auror replied. Remus nodded as Sirius looked up at the ceiling.

"Lovegood—that's the guy who prints off the Quibbler, yeah?"

"Sure is! He's such a nut case!" Tonks commented. Sirius grinned and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Nut case maybe, but to our friend Stubby Boardman here, he's a hero."

"I'll have to see if maybe Harry can pull off me meeting Luna or her father so that I may thank him properly," Sirius stated nodding. Remus shook his head.

"Mass chaos—that's all that would come out of that—mass chaos," he muttered. Moody grunted in agreement and then looked up.

"How'd the meeting with Mundungus go?" Remus groaned and sighed.

"I swear that man is such a pain. He had me wait at this disgusting and filthy place for three days before telling me to go some where else for the meeting. Then he proceeded to talk about his business while trying to carry it out rather then just giving me the information and letting me be," he complained. Sirius laughed.

"That's Mundungus for you all right, he's a character." Moody growled.

"A character indeed. A character I'm not sure we should be trusting for much longer." Sirius stopped laughing and looked at Moody.

"What do you mean?" he asked the older wizard.

"Some of the information that Dumbledore has trusted him with has gotten to the other side, no doubt he's 'slipped up' more then a few times," Moody explained. Sirius sighed and shrugged.

"So? We don't give him that much information for that reason. At least it's better then Snape, I'm just waiting for that slimy git to turn around and betray us completely." Remus glared at Sirius.

"Might I remind you Snape is giving Harry Occulmency lessons?" he said sternly. Sirius glared at him.

"May I remind you Mr. Lupin that Snape canceled those exact lessons because he's an evil disgusting ba—"

"Excuse me for interrupting your rant Black, but I'm afraid we have a problem," a voice said from the fireplace in the kitchen. The diverse group all jumped up to crowd around the fire place and stare down at a greasy haired, big nosed, glaring Severus Snape. Sirius sneered.

"Snivellus, how lovely of you to drop by."

"I assure you Black, I won't be staying long. I have better things to do with my time than stare up at you," Severus retorted. Sirius growled but Remus put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's the problem Severus?" he asked quietly but sternly. The potion master's eyes traveled to Remus and he sneered.

"Your Golden Boy and his precious Muggle born decided to take Umbridge on a walk to the Forbidden Forest. They had not yet returned when Mr. Draco Malfoy managed to run into my office with a few very well placed Bat-Bogey Hexes. It seems that the others managed to escape into the Forbidden Forest as well without my noticing."

"How long have they been gone?" Moody asked.

"Maybe 15 minutes at most, I wouldn't be concerned if it wasn't for one of my first years stumbling in here a few moments ago muttering about giant horse skeletons flying out of the forest. It seems he watched his older brother kill his Aunt's cat when he was younger." Remus swallowed.

"Threstrals…of course Harry would be able to see them, and didn't one of them tell us Umbridge did her inspection during Hagrid's threstral lesson?"

"Longbottom is going to be able to see them too, and Lovegood no doubt—think she watched her mother die," Moody added on roughly.

"Where would they go though?" Tonks asked.

"That I can answer as well. The Dark Lord's been giving Potter dreams. The Department of Mysteries. No doubt he had a dream where he saw the Dark Lord torturing Black down there," Severus replied.

"Maybe if someone had been teaching him correctly," Sirius growled. Severus whirled on him.

"I did the best I could! It's not my fault if that incompetent brat didn't practice! Didn't realize the dangers! Had he kept his curiosity to himself rather than gone off and—"

"ENOUGH!" Remus shouted. The room went silent until Tonks spoke up again.

"What's in the Department of Mysteries that He wants anyway? Time turners?" she asked. Severus' head in the fire turned a slightly lighter red.

"A prophecy. One of the Death Eaters heard a prophecy after Potter had been born. It was about the Dark Lord and a powerful boy born at the end of July whose parents thrice defied him. They only heard half of it though, but that half was enough to send the Dark Lord to the Potter's home and try to kill the boy before he could kill him. It backfired, the rest of the prophecy went on to explain why it did, and the Dark Lord wants it now. He wants to know what was supposed to happen." The room went silent again.

"We have to get there, Merlin knows what kind of tricks Voldemort has in there. Not to mention how dangerous the Department of Mysteries is already," Kingsley whispered.

"I'm going to search the forest just in case, Dumbledore should be there any moment—leave the mutt at home to tell him what has happened," Severus said before disappearing. Sirius shouted in protest as Moody turned to the younger group around him and nodded.

"Tonks, Kingsley, Lupin, come on, we're going to have to move fast if we want to get to the Ministry and done to the Department without raising some kind of riot," he instructed grabbing his wand off the table. Sirius turned to look at him.

"I'm going too!" he said.

"No, some one needs to stay to tell Dumbledore. Plus it's too dangerous," the old Auror replied. "You could be caught."

"Exactly! I could be caught—working with the good guys!" Sirius cried.

"Sirius…" Remus muttered trying to stop the other man.

"No! Don't Sirius me! This is my chance to prove my innocence! It's obviously my fault Harry is there anyway! I was the one who didn't hear him calling for me! I need to be there so he can see that I'm all right! We'll have Kreacher tell Dumbledore what happened."

"You've been inside for too long! You're more of a hindrance then anything!" Moody shouted back. Sirius growled and slammed his hand on the table glaring at the other man.

"And whose fault is that? Whose fault is it that I've been locked up in this hellish house for so long? Whose the one who just threw me in Azkaban with out a second thought to Crouch's order of no trial?" he hissed between his teeth. Kingsley grimaced as Tonks gasped. Moody's roving magical eye stopped dead as Remus made a small noise of dismay in the back of his throat.

"If it wasn't for you Alastor—if you had just taken the time to take the silencing spell off of me and asked me what had happened like you had debated about doing loudly the entire way there, we wouldn't be here right now."

"Don't even start digging up the past with me you foolish boy…" Moody growled. Sirius continued to glare at him unfazed.

"I'm going, and you can't stop me."

"You're staying—"

"That's enough!" Remus shouted interrupting Moody. He stared at the older wizard pleadingly.

"This could be his chance at freedom Alastor. Please! I'll keep an eye on him! And he can help calm down Harry, you don't know the boy like I do! Having Sirius there to show him he's all right will get us in and out much faster." Moody glanced between the two friends before snarling.

"Fine! But you'd better keep a close eye on him Lupin! Now let's move out! Now!" he cried. The three Aurors moved out of the kitchen and Remus looked at Sirius.

"Kreacher!" The old house elf appeared and glared at Sirius.

"You were listening in, weren't you?" Sirius sneered. The house elf held his head high.

"Kreacher did no such thing Young Master. The stupid blood traitors running off to try and defeat the Dark Lord. Their precious little golden boy shall die most painfully no doubt," the house elf replied. Sirius growled.

"You stay here, when Dumbledore arrives you are to greet him and tell him everything, is that understood?"

"Of course Young Master. Kreacher will tell the old bat most gleefully how the nasties have gone to get themselves killed by the Dark Lord. Mistress will be most pleased to have her home back." Sirius growled.

"Disgusting creature…" he growled. Remus stepped forward.

"Padfoot…"

"Don't Remus. Just don't. I don't need it right now," Sirius growled picking his wand off the table and storming to the door. Remus grabbed the other man's shoulder.

"Just promise me that you'll be careful—just like old times. Promise me you'll be careful, and promise me that we'll look out for each other if we wind up fighting them," he asked. Sirius turned to look at him and smiled.

"Just like old times?"

"Yeah, just like old times," Remus replied smiling before they hurried out the door and outside where the others were waiting. Sirius let out a whoop of joy at being outside and turned around to make a rude hand gesture at Grimmauld.

"See ya in another life!" he shouted. Remus rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm dragging him to a dark spot on the other side of the road between two houses that Order Members had been using to Apparate in and out of. Sirius took one last glance where the old house resided and grinned as Remus let his arm go.

"C'mon Pads! Let's get out of here!" Sirius nodded and closed his eyes taking a deep breath as he apparated the farthest distant he had been since his escape.

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**Review! I might just put the next part up! HK**


	2. Chapter 2

**Part two! **In which things get sad. Prepare the tissue boxes everybody!

**Summary: **Sirius' last moments on this world were far from simply healing an oversized bird. Rather, they were filled with laughter, memories, swing dancing and one best friend, otherwise known as Moony.

**Warnings: **Character Death, Sadness/Angst Abound, Swing Dancing, and Sub-text.

**Rating: T** for the hell of it

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**Beyond the Department of Mysteries

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**

Remus took a deep breath as they arrived at the Ministry in front of a large fountain. Sirius snarled at the golden statue in the center with the wizard and witch in the center as the House-Elf, Centaur, and Goblin seemed to stare lovingly up at them.

"The day that that statue depicts the truth is the day that Voldemort admits he likes long walks on the beach, pink frilly things, and just feels lost and alone and needs some one to care for him," he muttered in Remus' ear. Remus chuckled at the thought and nudged Sirius.

"Shut up you moron," he hissed as Moody glared at them.

"C'mon you lot! To the Department of Mysteries!" the ex-Auror commanded.

"Two steps ahead of you sir," Kingsley said by the lifts. With a ding the doors opened and the group piled in.

"Floor nine Tonks," Moody commanded. The pink haired metamorphmagus nodded and pressed the button. The lift lurched and rattled as the five adult wizards waited patiently in silence. Remus grabbed Sirius' arm and stared at him intently.

"Remember to keep close and keep calm no matter what we find, please?" he asked. Sirius nodded as the lift lurched to a halt.

"Department of Mysteries," announced a cool female voice and the grilles slid open. They stepped out into the corridor and turned to the plain black door. Moody opened it and they went in quickly glancing at the doors around them.

"Which one do we take?" Kingsley asked quietly. The door closed with a crack and the walls started spinning. Remus gasped and stepped back as Sirius stepped forward.

"We're never going to find him…" the animagus growled. Moody stepped to the center.

"Show me Harry Potter!" he yelled out. The walls screeched to a halt and two doors burst open. The group split and ran to them and looked inside.

The room was stone, with steep stairs and seats going down to the center where on a dais an archway stood with a veil flowing from it. Harry was standing on the dais with something clutched in his hand. Ten Death Eaters were gathered in front of him, their wands pointed at him. Between Harry and the Death Eaters Neville Longbottom lay in a whimpering heap with Bellatrix Lestrange grinning at him. Lucius Malfoy had just bounded forward to take whatever Harry held away from him. The assorted Order of Phoenix member sprinted in and Tonks aimed her wand at Lucius and sent a curse flying. Remus and Sirius flew down steps throwing curses.

"Sirius! Wait!" Remus cried as the other man let out a small shout and passed him, a strange fire burning in his eyes. Remus felt his heart sinking as he remembered every single time Sirius nearly got himself or some one else killed when they were younger by acting reckless. He didn't have enough time to think about it though as he was quickly swept up into a duel with a Death Eater some 10 feet away from Sirius. He looked around for Harry as he fought and saw Sirius lurch past him and Neville still dueling. The sight of Mad-Eye Moody not to far off bleeding distracted him though.

"STUPEFY!" he yelled pointing his wand. It hit the Death Eater and he tried to run forward to help Harry and Neville but was intercepted by yet another Death Eater. Remus knocked him out of the way and tried to move forward to help Harry and instead watched Dolohov lift his arm to make a slashing movement.

"Oh Merlin…not that one. Why did Severus have to teach them that one!" he muttered trying to move forward but getting attacked again by the same Death Eater. He turned to duel the man properly. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard Harry yell out and Sirius' reply.

"_Petrificus Totalus!" _

"Nice one! Now I want you to get out of—"

Green light.

Remus sent off a quick curse, whirled around and started to step forward—afraid of what he might find, he saw Sirius and Harry crouched down, up the stairs Tonks crumpled and Bellatrix Lestrange ran back to the midst of the fighting. Sirius turned to Harry and said something before jumping up and chasing after Bellatrix.

"Sirius!" Remus cried. "Sirius! Don't be reckless!" he shouted as he turned back around to the persistent Death Eater and continued his fight. He managed to knock the man unconscious after a few minutes and looked around to assess the situation. Sirius was on the dais with Bellatrix. Remus watched the flowing veil anxiously.

"Merlin…watch out Sirius…" he hissed moving forward to warn the man when he heard Harry yell.

"No—get—off—me…Neville—catch it!" Remus whirled around and watched the prophecy skid across the floor and Neville pick it up. Lucius Malfoy pointed the wand at Neville but Harry yelled out,

"_Impedimenta!" _

Remus flew up the stairs and turned to Lucius who had smashed into the dais and aimed his wand.

"Harry, round up the others and GO!" Remus yelled before rushing forward with his wand and spouting off spells. He was fighting beside the dais with Lucius while on the dais Sirius and Bellatrix still fought. Remus tried to yell at Sirius to get off—he had heard of the archway before in a book. It was the passage way between life and death.

"Sirius!" he cried ducking to avoid one of Lucius spells. The animagus ignored him and Remus tried to yell again but he once more had to duck and this time was moving away from the dais back towards Neville and Harry.

"DUBBLEDORE!" Neville cried. Remus glanced up and saw Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. He breathed a sigh of relief as the powerful wizard sped down the steps. Lucius looked up and shouted trying to run away with some of the other Death Eaters. The fighting stopped as the Death Eaters were pulled to the center by Dumbledore's spell. Only Sirius and Bellatrix were still dueling. Remus pushed himself up off the floor where he had fallen and watched with wide eyes.

"Sirius…" he murmured quickly stepping forward as Sirius ducked a red jet of light.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Sirius yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. Remus shook his head and tried to yell for Sirius to watch out for the archway—but it was too late. The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

Remus' world crashed into pieces as he watched Sirius' eyes widen in shock, the laughter still apparent on his face. It seemed to take Sirius forever to fall as the sound of footsteps racing down the stairs filled Remus head. Sirius' body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.

Remus felt his heart stop at the look of mingled fear and surprise on his best friend's once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient passage way and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.

"No…" he whispered as Bellatrix triumphantly screamed.

"SIRIUS! SIRIUS!" Harry yelled running up behind Remus. He started to pass Remus and the werewolf realized that if he didn't stop the boy—he would foolishly follow his godfather into death. He grabbed Harry around the chest and held him back. Realization dawned on Remus—Sirius was gone.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry—" he whispered into the boy's ear.

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!" Inside Remus' head a voice was agreeing with Harry—yelling out the same things, anything to get back his best friend. Logic reared its ugly head though.

"It's too late, Harry—"

"We can still reach him—" Harry cried struggling as Remus held onto him like a life support.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry…nothing…. He's gone."

"He hasn't gone!" Harry yelled still struggling. Lupin shook his head. Harry didn't understand, couldn't understand. No one truly understood why the archway was a passageway between the two worlds, why it existed.

"SIRIUS! SIRIUS!" Harry bellowed.

"He can't come back, Harry," Remus reasoned, his voice breaking betraying his own inner turmoil. "He can't come back, because he's d—"

"HE—IS—NOT—DEAD! SIRIUS!" roared Harry. Remus couldn't help but thank the boy silently for not letting him complete his sentence. He couldn't bear the pain himself. Around them there was movement of Death Eaters and Order of the Phoenix Members. But none of it really registered in Remus' mind as he dragged Harry away from the dais, Harry who was still staring at the archway and struggling to get free.

Suddenly though Harry stopped fighting and Remus closed his eyes tightly as they neared Neville—knowing that reality had finally registered. Sirius would've never stayed behind a curtain letting Harry suffer; he would jump out immediately. Dumbledore had most of the Death Eaters in the center and Kingsley had run forward to continue Sirius' duel with Bellatrix.

"Harry?" Neville asked quietly—having slid down the stone benches to where Harry stood. Remus kept his grip on Harry's arm and watched the two boys silently.

"Harry…I'b really sorry…" Neville muttered through his broken nose. His legs were dancing uncontrollably, making Remus wonder what Death Eater had used such a childish curse. "Was dat man—was Sirius Black—a—a friend of yours?" Remus cringed as Harry nodded. He knelt down next to them.

"Here," he whispered and pointed his wand at Neville's legs. _"Finite."_ Neville's legs fell back onto the floor and remained still. Neville looked up at him and in his eyes, Remus could see his own pale reflection. He looked away.

"Let's—let's find the others. Where are they all Neville?" he asked slowly, every word causing him pain as he fought the urge to scream and chase after Sirius himself. He turned away from the archway and faced Neville.

"Dey're all back dere," said Neville through his broken nose. "A brain addacked Ron bud I dink he's all righd—and Herbione's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse—"

There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. Remus turned and watched Kingsley, yelling in pain, hit the ground. Bellatrix turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her but she deflected it. She was half way up the stairs when Remus felt Harry tear away from his grasp.

"Harry—no!" he cried stumbling up the stairs trying to catch the teenager.

"SHE KILLED SIRIUS! SHE KILLED HIM—I'LL KILL HER!" the boy bellowed. Remus gasped at the murderous thoughts and stumbled onto his feet shouting.

"HARRY! IT WON'T HELP! HARRY! PLEASE! PLEASE HARRY!" he cried before tripping over a broken glass sphere and watching Harry disappear. Dumbledore turned and started shouting out orders as Remus reached aimlessly to the door.

"No…Harry…please…I can't…" Remus whispered a feeling of complete loss setting in.

"Alastor! You stay in here and take care of things! Kingsley! Take Neville and find the rest of the children!" the headmaster yelled before rushing up the stairs. He passed Remus and stopped turning back to the werewolf. He knelt down and took Remus' outstretched hand in his own hand and whispered kindly.

"There's still time to say goodbye…just listen…" he whispered before letting go and running out of the room. He heard faintly Kingsley helping Neville up, and the boy telling him which way the rest of the children were. Mad-Eye was shouting insults to the Death Eaters who were replying before he cast a silencing charm on the lot of them and went to go tend to Tonks. Remus stood up and stared down at the floor, the only sound in the room was Mad-Eye's quiet musings as he checked over Tonks and Kingsley and the group of teenagers on the other side of one of the open doors. He closed his eyes and that's when he heard the faint whisperings filling the room. Remus' eyes flew open and he turned to face the dais. Carefully he walked towards it, his ears filling rapidly with the whisperings. As he climbed up on to the dais one voice stood out alone amongst the voices and Remus fell to his knees in front of the arch.

"Sirius?" Remus whispered and reached forward to touch the archway's cold stone. The voice grew soft around the one voice and Remus shook his head frantically.

"It's my fault, oh Sirius, please…don't…don't do this to me Sirius. I've already lost James and Lily, and I thought I lost you once—don't make me go through that again Sirius!" he mumbled feeling the tears building behind his eyes. He closed his eyes and could seeSirius' face laughing as they danced in Remus' room.

"Sirius…come back, please." He wiped away the few tears that managed to escape…ignoring the stares from the Death Eaters and the pained glances from Moody. "Please…" The whispers grew louder and Remus growled the desire to reach in and pull Sirius out of behind the Veil, out of Death, overwhelming him.

"You were my first best friend Sirius…don't you dare leave me…not yet!" Remus growled viciously, anger slowly consuming him as the Whispers overtook the last trace of Sirius and disappeared. Inside of him the wolf recognized the loss of its last pack mate and howled. Remus bit his bottom lip trying to keep it in as his heart seemed to swell with the cry of loss. Finally he let it out.

"SIRIUS!" he cried loudly before breaking down into sobs. An arm wrapped around his shoulders and Moody pulled him up.

"C'mon…c'mon son. There's nothing you can do. Let's get you out of here." Remus allowed himself to be pulled away from the archway and up to where Tonks lay unconscious. Neville appeared at one of the doors and called to Mad-Eye for help with getting the others into the room. Mad-Eye helped Remus sit down silently and shuffled off leaving the younger man to stare off into space with tears falling down his cheeks. A while later when all of Harry's friends had been safely moved to around Tonks and Remus, Dumbledore came back in with a small group of Aurors behind him. He pointed at the group of Death Eaters.

"There are your captives. Moody, Kingsley, how are my students?" he asked walking over.

"Hermione and Ron suffered the most damage—but apparently they're used to that whenever they go some where with Potter," Moody replied. Dumbledore nodded and pulled out a random object, he pointed his wand at it.

"_Portus._ Alastor, take this and the students to the hospital wing for me. Kingsley, can you take care of Tonks?" The Auror nodded.

"Of course, I'll get her to St. Mungo's immediately," Kingsley replied.

"Do you want me to take Lupin with me to the castle?" Moody asked gruffly as he instructed Neville to grab hold of Hermione and Ginny to hold onto Ron. Dumbledore sighed and turned to Remus.

"Remus?"

"Yes, I'll go, I have some injuries Madame Pomfrey should check out, and then I can help her with the students," Remus announced in a hollow voice. Moody picked up Luna and nodded.

"Let's go then. Longbottom, Weasley, keep tight hold on those two!" Ginny, Neville, Remus, and Moody grabbed the object Dumbledore held out for them and were soon spiraling along and landing in the Hospital Wing where Madame Pomfrey instantly threw herself over each of them and started to work. Remus lay down on the bed she assigned him to and stared up at the ceiling tiredly. His entire body had started to ache for no reason when they entered the Hospital Wing, and his mind was going over his last moments with Sirius. He closed his eyes allowing one last tear to briefly escape before exhaustion fell over him and he fell asleep.

* * *

**Review! I might just put the last part up! HK**


	3. Chapter 3

**Last Part! Please Remember to Review!**

**Summary: **Sirius' last moments on this world were far from simply healing an oversized bird. Rather, they were filled with laughter, memories, swing dancing and one best friend, otherwise known as Moony.

**Warnings: **Character Death, Sadness/Angst Abound, Swing Dancing, and Sub-text.

**Rating: T** for the hell of it

* * *

Beyond the Department of Mysteries

* * *

Remus watched as his things flew into his trunk tiredly. The orders had been simple: get in, get everything of importance, and get out. He had to also grab Buckbeak though. His trunks and briefcase thumped down in front of him and he lifted them with a flick of his wand. Remus finally looked up from the floor and took one last glance around the room. It had a look of abandonment about it. Large clear patches spread through out the thin layer of dust littered the room, especially on the table that had held his aptly dubbed "music box." His stare lingered at the spot and for a moment he could hear music and laughter before he shook his head and turned away, refusing to think of what happened only two days before. He stepped out of the room with his luggage following behind him.

He stared at the two doors across the hallway. In one Buckbeak was waiting for him, and in the other—the few possessions Sirius managed to get his hands on screamed out to him. Remus bit his lip and turned his head away from Sirius' room and walked into Buckbeak's. The Hippogriff looked up at him as he walked in. Remus started to bow but Buckbeak trilled, nodding his head. Remus straightened and walked in, leaving his things outside in the hallway.

"Ready to go Buckbeak?" he asked quietly going over to the creature. The Hippogriff stood up and gingerly placed weight on it's hurt foot. Remus grimaced.

"Come on Buckbeak, we'll go slow so you can take it easy, all right?" The Hippogriff huffed and Remus lightly rested his hand on the beast's neck as they took one slow step after another.

"That's it Beaky, careful now, all right? One step at a time." They got to the door and Remus walked out first, leading Buckbeak out slowly. Finally they were out in the hall and Remus smiled lightly at the Hippogriff.

"There now, that wasn't so bad. We'll take a short break, and then we'll go down the stairs, ok?" The Hippogriff trilled as Remus went to grab his briefcase and suitcase. He shrank them and placed them in his pocket before going back to Buckbeak—his back turned on Sirius' room. Buckbeak glared at the werewolf before nudging him towards the door. Remus shook his head.

"No Buckbeak…don't…" Buckbeak looked Remus in the eye and Remus sighed looking away.

"Fine…but I'm just grabbing his stuff and then going…" he muttered. He turned and walked to the door taking a deep breath before opening it. Behind him Buckbeak trilled softly encouraging him to go forward. Remus stepped into the room and glanced around.

There weren't many things that actually belonged to Sirius—but it was enough to keep his memory alive. Remus flicked his wand and soon all of Sirius' items were in neat stacks in front of him. There were a few outfits and a picture album as well as a few framed pictures. Remus' eyes locked on to two piles with six old leather bond books each. He picked one up and fingered the faded gold lettering on the front cover

Sirius Orion Black 

_1971_

_Slytherin Gryffindor First Year_

Remus smiled as he remembered all the crap James used to give Sirius every time he pulled out the old leather bound books to write in. Sirius would always insist on it—no matter what James called him, and when Remus bought him a Gryffindor Red leather bound book to add to his collection in 4th year, it forever silenced the "Journal vs. Diary" fights. Remus opened the book to the first entry and bit his bottom lip as he read it, smiling despite the tears building up in his eyes.

September 1, 1971

Made Gryffindor—Mom is going to kill me, along with the rest of my family. The Hat told me that I had a choice though, Slytherin to follow the family or Gryffindor to where I could make my own name and be my self.

_I didn't realize I had chosen until he yelled out the house and was taken off my head._

_Would I have been better off in Slytherin?_

_James Potter is in my common room—typical. Mom said that he'd make Gryffindor. He's nice though, and really funny, and smart! Mom said the Potter's are stupid._

_Peter Pettigrew is another dorm mate. Don't know what his blood is. He's kind of weird. Really quick to agree with everything James and I say. He kind of annoys me. _

_The last dorm mate is this boy named Remus Lupin. He doesn't look too good—really sick actually. He went to bed almost immediately after we got into the Gryffindor tower, I can't blame him._

_There's something about him though; I really want to talk to him tomorrow. I hope he'll be feeling better. Maybe it's just because he's not used to being away from home._

_Oh well, we've got classes tomorrow—I hope we don't have any with the Slytherins, I don't think I'll be able to face Bellatrix. _

_-Sirius_

Remus slightly chuckled at the memory. It took Sirius a week to finally corner Remus and talk to him without James and Peter around and without Remus using classes as an excuse. It was the first—but most definitely not the last time that Remus had had a book stolen from his hands and a curious Sirius in his face.

Smiling Remus pulled out his briefcase and enlarged it. He placed Sirius' clothes and the pictures in it before carefully setting the first journal inside as well. He picked up the next journal and opened it up to a random page. He glanced down and started to read it while in the hallway Buckbeak lay down and made himself comfortable.

_November 5, 1972_

_Remus is a werewolf. Makes sense actually. _

_James and I confronted him about it today, he was really afraid of what we were going to do. James seems to be slightly disturbed by it, but I don't care. As long as he promises not to wake me up in the middle of the night and devour me whole—he's still Remus._

_Peter's being stupid about it, but a few smacks upside the head from yours truly solved that. _

_Anyway, I asked Remus how it happened and what it feels like. _

_I have a whole newfound respect for him and a new goal in life._

_I want to find away to make it easier on Remus, if not a cure for Lycanthropy. _

_-Sirius_

Remus shook his head and wiped away a stray tear before putting that one in his suitcase as well. Knowing he didn't have much time, Remus stopped reading and one by one put each journal into his briefcase. When he picked up the 7th one and a picture fell out of it. It was all of the Marauders along with Lily and her best friend on graduation day, smiling and waving up at the camera. Remus could remember the day all to well, Sirius was a nervous wreck and Remus had stayed up with him all night trying to calm him down. The picture made it obvious that the two canines of the group were not up to standard. Sirius was waving tiredly and grinning while occasionally yawning and Remus was using him as a pillow occasionally glancing up with a quick smile and wave before trying to go to sleep. Remus shook his head and put the picture back into the journal before setting it into the briefcase. He put four more of the journals into his briefcase before carefully picking up the last one.

_Sirius Orion Black _

_1996_

Remus closed his eyes and traced the gold lettering carefully remembering when Sirius had gotten the journal. All of the others had been written before Azkaban, this was the only one he had after. Remus had given it to him on Christmas Eve when every one else was heading for bed. Buckbeak trilled from the hallway and Remus turned to look at him.

"I can't…" he whispered. Buckbeak stared at him for awhile longer before Remus finally sighed and opened up to the last entry.

_June, 1996_

_I hate this house, I hate Snape, I hate my Mother, and I'm starting to hate Dumbledore._

_Remus is out on a mission, has to meet with Mundungus. I'm not sure whether or not I should think he's lucky to get out of this place, or unfortunate for having to waste 3 days for a 3 hour conversation where he'll only get enough information to give him maybe 5 minutes worth of attention during the next meeting._

_And that's assuming he's lucky. _

_We're on an edge of a war again, a war that should've ended ages ago. I'm worried about what will happen. I have complete confidence that Harry will manage to beat Voldemort—but at what price? His life? Everyone else's? _

_I'm worried most especially about Remus though. I can see exactly what he's doing with everyone. "Hi, I'm Remus, I'm a werewolf, nice to meet you. I know you probably want to get to know me better—but I can't risk it. I lost everything last time, and I don't want to go through that again, so instead I'm going to distance myself." _

_Luckily I have the Serious Sirius Charm (Merlin, it's been forever since I used that!) and I've sort of forced him to stop distancing himself from me._

_Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope that nothing happens to either one of us. We're each other's last hope, strength, and all that jazz. Harry's got too much to deal with to worry about two old men. _

_If something does happen to me though, I hope he reads this. I hope he realizes that just like James and Lily never completely left us (and it's more then just having Harry hanging around) I'll never completely leave him. He's just got to keep living for us, for Harry, for the Marauders. _

_I sound like I'm writing a suicide letter—that's really not good, but still, Moony—if you ever read this, I want you to know I'm always going to be there. I'm always reading over your shoulder, trying to steal your books, and making inappropriate comments at the best (or worse…) times. And every full moon Padfoot will be there running with you. So just keep living ok?_

_I sound stupid. I didn't know that boredom actually could drive you to insanity. _

_Maybe I'll go see if I can sneak out as Padfoot for a few hours and get some exercise and fresh air. _

_-Sirius_

Remus closed the book and his eyes, tears falling down his face. Finally he looked up and put the journal in his briefcase and closed it up. He shrunk the briefcase and put it back in his pocket before standing up and drying his face. He brushed off his robes and turned to Buckbeak smiling.

"Ready to go start a new life Beaky?" he asked calmly. The Hippogriff stood up and Remus grinned going over to the large creature and patting it's neck.

"Let's get out of here and go somewhere where you can stretch your wings," he said closing the door to Sirius' bedroom and leading the Hippogriff downstairs.

"Ready to go Remus?" Tonks asked when he reached the bottom where she and Kingsley were. Remus glanced up the gloomy stairs and nodded.

"Yeah, I suppose so. I've got everything I need from here," he replied. Kingsley nodded and glanced at the things he and Tonks were carrying.

"I think we've got everything Tonks, have you got the port key to Dumbledore's office?" Tonks held up an odd object.

"Yep, we've got about 4 more minutes till take off. Remus, do you want to come with us?" Remus shook his head.

"No, I need to get home with Buckbeak. I have to get settled back in before meeting with the rest of you to greet Harry at King's Cross. The Dursleys aren't the best people in the world—I would like to have a few good night's sleep before having to deal with them."

"All right then, as long as you have a place to go," Tonks said. Remus nodded.

"Yeah I'll be fine…" Kingsley glanced at Buckbeak.

"How are you planning on getting from here to your house?" he asked. Remus grinned.

"Disillusionment charm and then I'll have to hope that my apparating skills are up to par," he explained. The Aurors laughed.

"Good luck then Remus, call us if you wind up splinching." Remus nodded and tapped his wand on Buckbeak's head. The Hippogriff trilled and shivered.

"Bye guys…" Remus replied walking out of the house and to the Apparating Zone they had designated. He and Buckbeak stopped and Remus glanced up at the spot where number 12 Grimmauld Place normally stood. He could hear Sirius laughing and turning to look at it just as he was before yelling out his good byes. Remus wrapped his arm around Buckbeak's neck and grinned.

"See ya in the next life," he said before apparating out.

**The End.**


End file.
